Gunslinger Girl: Return of the Fallen Angel
by FearTheLASERFACE
Summary: The Social Welfare Agency is under a certain risk. They intend to do what they usually do. Little do they know what lies ahead for them.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_In Fair Italia, a terrorist organization known as the Five Republics faction, in their effort for an independant North, has plagued the Country. To help combat this terrorism, the Government set up the Social Welfare Agency, a covert Government agency disguised as a charity organization. They took terminal patients, who had to be young children, and girls for some reason at that, and gave them mechanically enhanced bodies to heavily boost their strength and agility. Finally, the Cyborgs went through a process known as "conditioning" to make them obey their assigned "handlers" almost without question, and also wiped all memories of their previous life. This cost them their connection to their past, as well as every ounce of free will. Despite an adolescent heart, they are trained to take a life without fear, without regret, without remorse, and without a moment's hesitation. _

"Looks like this is the place."  
Two Handler-Cyborg pairs, Jose/Henrietta and Jean/Rico, were sent to investigate a building were Five Republics faction-affiliated terrorists were confirmed to be hiding out. It was to be a simple mission, one to send a message to the Five Republics Faction.  
"Jose, take Henrietta inside to investigate. Rico and I will take the suppressed Dragonuv and make sure no one escapes. The staged rooftop work and other staged constructions should drown out the sounds of the firefight. It should work out like last time, the difference being you're actually SUPPOSED to engage.  
"Understood. Henrietta. Stay close to me. Leave your gun in the case until I tell you to take it out. I'll take care of any guards we run into.

**~~O~~**

Sarah was probably the youngest individual female who lived on the streets, but she made it look like she was just some rebellious teenager who lived out of the house, was a runaway from somewhere she would not name, or used a story that simply put her at an older, more reasonable age than her actual. Not many people were able to talk to her about it anyway, though; she was a very anti-social person. She was wandering aimlessly with her backpack, not really caring where she ended up. Leaving Rome behind was certainly an option and maybe even stealing a plane ride to the United States, but something kept her there, one reason being that she had nowhere else to go.

**~~O~~**

"Get ready, Henrietta"  
Jose and Henrietta had reached the door they were sure had the terrorists behind it. He placed a Frame Charge on the door, and detonated it. The door blew inwards, and both he and Henrietta went in shooting.  
"Jean, targets have been engaged. Confirm you have a visual on level 3, fourth room right.  
"Roger"  
Henrietta charged into the next room. There was one man there, who she quickly dispatched.  
"Jean, do you still see any hostiles?"  
"Nope. I think we're good to go. Let the cleanup team get those bodies."

**~~O~~**

As Jose and Henrietta exited and Jean and Rico began to pack up, a lone figure was eyeing them atop another building. The figure noted Henrietta and her Violin Case, and took out a camera and took a snapshot. The mysterious man later noted Jean and Rico coming out of their sniping building, Rico with her bag she used to carry the Dragunov. He took a snapshot of that too.  
"I may be onto something here."

**~~O~~**

Rico thought she saw something move in her peripheral vision, and looked around, including the very rooftop the mystery man had been on. But he wasn't there anymore. Rico didn't think she would be hallucinating, but combat in the role of a sniper could get one nervous of their surroundings. She shook her head and walked on.

**~~O~~**

Sarah, now wearing an urban-dirty hoodie zip-up jacket and jeans, eyed Jose and Henrietta's vehicle she saw them get in. She took out a smoke from her lone pack and lit it. She couldn't exactly call herself a smoker. But she smoked on a few occaissions to help her take her mind off of things; although it was usually the last resort. She still felt she shouldn't do it all, though. Not good for her. She took a puff and blew out as the vehicle stopped for a red light, and she eyed the girl inside.

**~~O~~**

Henrietta saw something in her peripheral vision. She turned to see a hooded black-haired girl, who appeared to be in her teens, who was leaning against a wall, a cigarette in her hand at her side as she blew out the smoke. She knew the girl was looking at her. She had some expression on her face. Anger? No. Suspicious? No, definitely not. Sad and depressed? That one made sense, but why at her specifically? The car then moved forward, and Henrietta looked away. But that girl's image had been burned into her head. There was something about her that Henrietta just couldn't put her finger on…

_End Chapter 1_

Plz, if you have any criticisms, I'm all ears. Erm, eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Past Experiences

"Well, everything seems to be going well. Its good that we don't have to worry about the possible side effects of the conditioning that we used to worry about." A man sitting at a desk said.

"What are you talking about? We still don't know if there are particular serious long-term effects of the new conditioning method, and a few of first-genms have suffered from the side-effects of the conditioning.

"I'm aware of that. I'm talking about a Subject 2-Alpha mishap."

A third man spoke.

"I'm still new to this high job. Could someone fill me in on what you mean by, "Subject 2-Alpha Mishap."?"

"Ah, yes, of course. But you have to sign this contract and swear to secrecy."

"Of course, *signs*. Um, how'd you pull that out in half a second?"

"Irrelevant. Anyway, there was actually a prototype of the second generation of cyborgs. The Alpha Subject of the second-generation, which is why we call her "Subject 2-A(lpha)". She was the absolute first human experiment on second-generation conditioning. She went through the process, and everything seemed to work out fine. A mission to experiment the effects of the conditioning went pretty smoothly.

**~~O~~**

*Around 2 years ago*

SWA-controlled building, Rome, Italy.

Several figures stood in room. One man was a cyborg handler. Another one was not a man. It was a young girl, not technically a cyborg yet but under the effects of the conditioning. The man started speaking to the girl.

"You're sure you are ready for this?"

"Yessir."

A third person spoke up.

"Quit your worrying, James. It's only a simple assassination."

"What if you're wrong?"

"Then #$% me. But we are sure I'm not. We've rechecked the intel. This Padania-sympathizing reporter ain't gotta clue we even onto him, and we have never seen anyone that could pass as a bodyguard."

The girl put her M9 pistol in her jacket-concealed holster.

"Well, I'm ready. Let's kick some ass. Even if it's just one ass."

"She's very…different from the others."

"She's not you're average typical girl. She's someone guys would love to play Halo or Call of Duty with. Alright, cmon."

"Right."

"Wait!"

A fourth person had spoken up.

"I just got a call."

After some more talking, the _Fratello_ pair and the other men got into their undercover van and drove off. Their target was somewhere on a certain highway leading from Rome. They would be able to catch him in a rural area on the highway and take him down. Dead or Alive, it didn't matter.

**~~O~~**

"So, you think we have enough evidence to go public with?" A young girl sitting in a sedan next to the reporter said.

"Absolutely. Besides, it's possible that the Feds have caught on by now. Going public would drastically decrease the chance of me from being eliminated without confirming my suspicions to the public."

"So where are we going now?"

"Out of the city. Perhaps we might drive all they way down to Sicily if we want. Or a hotel sympathetic with Padania, if we deem it safer. We're gonna stop at a certain little place, though. This is probably the riskiest part of this operation. I mostly just want to get you somewhere safe, though, Sam. I care much about you. I regret not getting you away from me sooner."

Sam looked curious now.

"You want to get me away from you?"

"Why shouldn't I? I've put you in danger. I have to get as far from you as possible. You'll be staying with a cousin of mine."

"...Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid you would resist."

There was a momentray silence between the two.

"…Will I see you soon?"

The man hesitated.

"Maybe."

Silence dominated again for a minute or so, and then Samantha spoke up again.

"Hey, what if the Feds DO catch you?"

"…"

It was at this moment that the man caught a glimpse of an object in his rearview mirror, getting larger very millisecond, until the sedan was rammed from behind.

**~~O~~**

"Got them! They've stopped! Cmon! Let's get em!"

The handler and the girl leapt out of their car. The girl raised her M16A4 Assault Rifle. The car had skidded off the road near an abandoned gas station. Because of the potential risks, members of Section 1 had come along with the Fratello, 4 actually, all carrying Submachine guns. All six of them raised their weapons. They received a sound response of bullets in return.

The moment his car had been rammed and he saw the men start to pile out, he had grabbed his FN FAL semi-automatic rifle and started spraying back when they started at him. He really wished this was the United States right now. Then he could have purchased an AK-47 or something. He compensated as best as he could by repeatedly pulling the trigger as fast as possible.

The girl, her handler, and the four Section 1 men took cover behind the doors of their van, still firing at the sedan. Then, a hand reached out of the sedan, and threw an object at them.

"Explosive!"

The object landed in front of them and they ducked behind their doors…but no explosion came. One man peeked briefly at the object through his bulletproof window. It wasn't a grenade or a pipe bomb like they thought it was – it was just a damn rock. It was then they noticed the targets headed for the abandoned gas station building.

"He's on the move! He's on the move!"

"Take him down!"

They took careful aim at the man, putting their red dots or iron sights on him. but he had already taken cover by the time they managed to squeeze their triggers. Flashes came from the Fueling station as the man fired wildly from behind cover.

"Man down! Man down!" A Section 1 officer had been hit.

A cocktail bottle came flying from the fueling station. They noticed the fiery cloth stuffed in it. A Molotov Cocktail. They hesitated, wary of the rock from before, but when the alcoholic substance inside was spread around by the impact and suddenly ignited into flame, they backed off or jumped aside in surprise and instinct.

**~~O~~**

The man took the opportunity caused by the Molotov cocktail to grab Samantha and ran inside the abandoned gas station. Unbeknowest to the SWA Agents, there were few tricks here he could use. He had previoucly left a few pipe bombs, because this was a place of a certain importance to him. He took another Molotov Cocktail and lit the cloth, and threw it through a broken window. He then took his largest pipe bomb, and while the men were distracted momonetarily by the fire, he hurled it through the door. The men stared for a second, then dashed for cover. BOOM, too late. Screams came from the mouths of the three remaining Section 1 men, and the reporter took this chance to fire carefully at each of them with his FN FAL.

**~~O~~**

The girl and her handler had not been within the explosion. They had lagged behind and taken cover when the large pipe bomb came out. By the time they recovered from the shock(not really physical shock) of the huge blast, all four of the Section 1 men were dead, injured by the explosion and finished off by the reporter. They started firing at him. This time, they actually nailed him in the shoulder, but he already been going for cover, and the rest of their shots missed or impacted against the too-thick wall. Then another Molotov came through the window. They ducked behind the Fueling station. Nothing happened. The handler made the mistake of peeking. He took the explosion in the face. It had actually been a pipe bomb _inside_ a broken then glued up cocktail bottle. While no shrapnel actually came from the bomb, as it was specially desgined that way(think of a hard shell that just pops open in half or smaller pieces), the explosion stunned him enough to knock him out

**~~O~~**

The reporter smiled. Five down, one to go. But he had to be clever. This last one he was dealing with was probably a cyborg, and his left shoulder was hurt. But he couldn't help but smile. He might actually survive, and he would have irrefutable evidence of the SWA's operations. Why? He had been carrying a tiny camera in his hand. He had taken several one-handed snapshots as he had ran. He picked it up from the floor where he had dropped it and took a couple quick snapshots of the dead bodies, then ducked back behind cover. No time to celebrate yet. There was still that cyborg to deal with. It was at this moment he heard footsteps, rapid ones. He had no more ammo for his FN FAL, but he had his Colt M1911 semiautomatic pistol. He only had two clips for a total of 14 rounds, but they would be enough. He drew it with his right hand, his non-dominant hand.

**~~O~~**

The girl was now completely mad in both senses of the word, which happened when she saw her handler get knocked out. She had ditched her rifle in favor of her M9 and tactical knife since it was going to be close-quarters. She wasn't a cyborg yet, technically, so she only had the physical strength of a regular athletic girl, but she did not care. She charged through the remnants of the fire, and finally through the door with a knife and her M9, rolling in, causing a gunshot to miss, flying over her and hitting the far wall. She got in a stable position, and her eyes met the man's.

And they went at it.

(If you have any criticisms, again, do not hesitate.)


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Past Experiences Part 2

***Present Day***

The man who had asked about the whole Subject 2-Alpha thing took in what he had just heard.

"How the HELL was that a smooth mission?"

"Good point. But I specifically meant the conditioning." The man at the desk said.

"So, what was the bad part again?" The question man asked, remembering that it had been a _mishap_.

"Right, well, the test mission showed that the conditioning had worked. Many of us agreed that the Subject was ready for the cybernetic body."

"Hang on, why did she not receive it immediately, like before she was even conditioned?"

"Oh, that's because she had been deemed 'Dangerous'."

The man was dumbfounded by the response. A confused "Heh?" was all he could say.

"I'll get to that later. Anyway, we were preparing to give her the body. But then…we're not sure what happened. Before she received the body, we believe she managed to at least partially struggle beyond the effects of the conditioning, giving herself a large degree of free will. She may have managed to at least vaguely recall her past, as evidenced by her shouting."

"Shouting?"

"Yes. Thing was, on a certain night, she and her handler were at the hospital, the handler being there to have his injuries treated, notably to his face. She entered her handler's room that night, along with her gun. We were…kind of foolish in hindsight to allow her to keep her gun to 'protect' her handler on her insistence. Moreover, she somehow smuggled in more rounds than she was allowed to have. But she seemed to be fine when security got to her on her way out, and we later found the handler was fine – well, he did lose his pillow gun. But in an attempt to communicate with Alpha…she just went mad."

He paused.

"Then she tried to escape. We had to put her down for good."

***2 years ago***

It is nighttime in the city of Rome. People are still milling about the streets, as you would expect from such a city. Howoever, cars were starting to be herded off the road by police, while the same was starting to be done to civilians. Civilians were curious about what was going on. They got their answer. A speeding Porsche roared through the streets, blowing some wind into pedestrian faces, with 3 millitary LandRovers in hot pursuit. The Porsche made a screeching turn onto another road, honking at some pedestrians on the sidewalk who screamed and jumped everywhere to avoid the car as it came slightly onto the sidewalk, but quickly went back on the road as it completed the turn. The Rovers followed suit, making the turn more easily with the additional room. The sedan carried one single occupant. Subject 2-Alpha was driving the car. The Rovers were there to try and stop her from escaping. They had orders to take her alive. The soldiers in the Rovers attempted to take out the sedan's tires, but the sedan, either by lack of skill or great skill on Alpha's part, kept swerving around, making it more difficult to hit the tires. Instead, they often ended up kicking up tarmac near the vehicle's back tires. One soldier started cursing at constantly hitting the bumper of the sedan instead of the tire or the tarmac right behind the tires, because he couldn't get the right angle. A couple times, they actually hit the tires, but the bullets just bounced off and redirected into the tarmac, due to the thickened rubber, which dinted as well to absorb the energy of the bullet, not to mention that none of the shots were a _direct _hit.

"Try a grenade!" A man shouted.

"No! We might miss or kill her! Or someone else!" Shouted an officer.

"We just can't stop her like this!"

That was when their radios sounded.

"Lethal takedown authorized. I repeat lethal takedown is authorized!" All of their radios squawked.

Good, thought the officer. This would make things easier.

"Use the grenade!" Someone shouted.

"No, not yet!" The officer barked. They were still in an area where there could easily be civilian casualties.

In the meantime, the jeeps dished out other forms of punishment to the sedan. Machine Guns, SMGs, everything. Even the drivers drew their sidearms and started firing. The sedan took the punishment. Bullets strained and punched through the somewhat bulletproof glass, shattering large parts of it, and bullet holes and dents started covering the trunk, but Alpha's driving did not seem to be hindered.

~~O~~

Alpha felt the car vibrate every time a bulet hit the vehicle. Several bullets actually whizzed by her face inside the car, and she actually felt the wind from them. They impacted on the windshield, cracking it. But she would not stop for anything. But, damn, those guys on her tail just couldn't get lured into an accident, no matter what she tried. Well...except one time. A fourth Rover had been on her tail. It ended up glancing off a civlian car while trying to avoid it and swerved into a wall, while frightened civilians scattered. She also realized that cars and civlians were being cleared off of the road, which had caused the chase to heat up, and by now had allowed room for the solders to start firing on her. And she couldn't really just shoot back at them, cause, well, she only had an M1911 pistol and a .44 Magnum revolver she took from her handler. She decided to try a maneuver she hadn't used yet. She stopped swerving the car side to side, and looked in the rearview mirror, and stamped on the brakes.

~~O~~

"AAAH!"

"Turn, turn, turn, turn!"

The sedan had suddenly braked, and the Rovers swerved to avoid crashing into it. One Rover had not been lucky, and screeched right into a o building. The remaining Rovers managed to go past the sedan, fairly narrowly avoding a collision. They screeched to a stop and tried to turn around. But Alpha's sedan had already turned to go down a different road, heading for a very nearby bridge over the Tiber River. Now, the sedan had some considerable breathing room. It seemed it could be smooth sailing if Alpha was careful enough. However, she knew there could very well be a roadblock on the bridge or beyond, but she decided it was an acceptable risk. It didn't seem like it had been long enough to set up a roadblock. She knew the police were told to stay out of this, otherwise why would they not be on her tail? And a millitary roadblock was unlikely, considering the amount of time they would require with all factors taken into account. She reached the bridge. She was right about the roadblock. She was relieved she wouldn't have to run over anyone, but there was a catch. As she gunned the engine and started zooming across the bridge at rapidly climbing speeds, she frowned as the Chopper came into view in the rearview mirror.

~~O~~

The Apache Helicopter pilot had been ordered to follow the sedan, and blow it up if necessary, although, the specifics were left out. The pilot didn't need them. All he needed to know was what the target was, and when to shoot.

"Target in sight, crossing the bridge. What do I do now?" The pilot asked into his radio.

"Fire." his commander on the radio said grimly. They could not fire on the sedan where there was a risk of civilian casualties. There were still some out there in the night, not to mention the buildings that might have civilians in them. But now, the bridge was clear thanks to police work limiting the traffic, and they knew they may not have another chance. Damages be damned, trying to track the target down on foot into buildings, which could happen with a heli in the chase, could result in too many casualties. The pilot licked his lips, locked a Hellfire missile on to the sedan, and fired. The missile streaked through the night, and followed the car on the bridge, correcting its course to stay on target. At the last second, however, the car swerved to the right, perhaps in a pointless attempt to dodge the missile. The missile hit to the left and behind the vehicle, which sent the wrecked car over the edge of the bridge and into the river along with a huge blast of tarmac and a huge splash of water.

"This is Kilo-oh-one-five, target neutralized."

***Present Day***

"We suspect that the conditioning caused a similar effect to what happened to Angelica. Only instead of dying, she just went mad." Desk man said.

The man who had asked about this in the first place took in the information.

"I see now. So you feared that the same problem could happen to the other cyborgs?"

"Yes." The man at the desk said.

"But I don't think it will, now." He continued.

"Does anyone else know about this?" The other man asked.

"Quite a number of others in the Agency knew about Subject 2-Alpha to varying extents, but they've been told not to talk about it. She's dead now, anyway. There's really no need. We only have to keep an eye on our current Cyborgs.

***28 Hours Later***

A man knocked on the door.

"Come in." The man inside said.

The other man entered.

"Sir, we are in a little situation."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**2 days before**

Jack Vesputchi sat in his study. He was a full-time Freelance reporter, and a good one at that. He reported what the average reporter doesn't and does deep detective work to uncover large stories. He earned a reasonable living this way. Today, he sat looking at evidence for something he knew could be the biggest story of his life. A picture of a girl carrying a Violin case next to a man, the suspicious death of a man who had worked at the Social Welfare Agency due to a hit-and-run a couple years back, before his famous reporting career kicked off. There were many others as well.

"I need more, damnit, more!" Jack said to himself. He still couldn't draw much from the relatively small amount of what he had gathered. He couldn't do this for much longer, he knew. The feds might catch on. Reporters had the potential to be the Government's worst nightmare, especially Freelancers.

*Sigh* He couldn't do this anymore for the night. He packed up all the stuff in a briefcase, went up to bed, put it under his bed, and plopped down on the bed.

**Present**

The Chief Director of the SWA from earlier was now alone. He was simply working on some paperwork when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." He said.

"Sir, we are in a situation." The man who came in said.

"Tell me."

"A reporter has caught wind of our operations. He has already managed to gather evidence, though it would be very inconclusive."

"Who is this man?"

"Jack Vesputchi. He's a Freelance reporter, one of the best. He's almost like a real detective."

"Hm, who else has he contacted?"

"No one else to our knowledge. But he may have contingency plans we don't know of."

"Then we'll get it out of him. If nothing is drawn from him, then we cast him aside. If we finish drawing things from him, we cast him aside."

"In what manner?"

**2 days later**

James Antolini, a handler in the Social Welfare Agency, was sitting at his desk doing some paperwork of his own when his phone rang. Annoyed, he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"James Antolini, we want you to report to the debriefing room in 0100 hours. Bring your cyborg with you."

"Ah, great. Fine."

He hung up. Damn, he thought. Another mission. He got up to go to the Cyborg Warehouse. He cringed at the name. It made the girls sound like machines. The worst part was, the name actually made sense.

Serina was the last first-gen cyborg. She was also one of the best trained. She was skilled in every aspect. She was, say, Rico and Hennrietta put together. In terms of combat only, of course. Her personality was less girly and more mature and serious compared to some of the others. Easily comparable to Triela, actually. Minus the Teddy Bear obsession. She was sitting in a room with Henrietta and Rico in Triela's room. But, as usual, she hardly said a word, while Henrietta and Rico rambled on and on. She felt quite distant from them, and the room full of teddy bears certainly was not helping. She didn't exactly think of herself as a tomboy, but the room was kind of pushing it. Then, someone knocked on the door.

"Serina?"

"James! What is it?"

Antolini let himself in.

"We need to be at the debriefing room in 01…..0055 hours."

"Yes, sir."

**28 Hours Earlier**

"Urrrrrrrrrrgggghhhhhhh…"

Sarah opened her eyes and found herself lying on her side, her vision initially blurry, but it slowly cleared. She looked around the alley she had been sleeping in bit and slowly tried to sit up against the wall behind her.

"Unh…not one of my better ideas in hindsight." She groggily said as she eyed the cocktail bottle next to her. She was just too depressed by recent events. She wearily got up, and finally realized it was raining. "Ah, damn it." She said, but she didn't actually care much. She didn't even bother to use her sweater's hood. She took her backpack and walked out of the alley. She didn't really care how soaked she got. She quickly recollected what had happened the previous day.

**The day before that**

Sarah was leaning against the wall, watching pedestrians walk by. She was having another smoke, as she was particularly stressed lately. She had to do something about her life. This wasn't going to do. But what COULD she do? It wasn't like that she could just bar-. She suspended that thought for the moment as she noticed a well-dressed man along with a young blonde girl in a green short-sleeved shirt walking by on the other side of the road. She had seen them a couple of times before. This time, she wasn't going to sit at the side. She picked up her backpack and followed them as inconspicuously as possible. She pushed through pedestrians as she tried to keep them in view.

"Alright, have to plan this out. I have to somehow…" her mumbling trailed off.

She followed them for about ten minutes. Finally, they entered a subway station She quickly moved as fast as she could. She entered the station and saw them heading for the gate. She had a card with some money on it, so she just skipped the machines where you purchased a card. She pushed through civilians trying to get the next place in line through the gate as fast as possible. She stood only two people behind the two, though in different lines. She kept her eye on them as they passed through the gate and headed for one of the lines. She quickly passed through the gate as well and jogged to catch up, following the same path they took. She took a flight of stairs down to the line, and quickly scanned the area for them. She noticed them a distance to the right, and so moved over there to make sure they got on the same car. Now, she stood practically next to them. Then, as she reached them, she remembered something. She quickly put her hood on and put on a pair of sunglasses. She waited for the right moment.

The train arrived not long after that, and Sarah followed the man and the girl onto the same car. This was where she got lucky. If the two sat next to each other, this would be harder since the man would be in too close proximity. But they had to sit in completely separate seats, across from each other, since they couldn't find two next to each other. She remained standing and took the rubber ceiling handle right next to and front of the girl. Sarah looked at the girl in her eyes. Full _Heterochromia irdis_, right eye blue and left eye green. Then, the girl turned to look at Sarah. Sarah turned away. She partially removed her backpack and retrieved a book from inside it.

"You've been to America?" The girl asked, noticing the book was about sites in New York City.

"_Ah, that got her attention." _Sarah thought.

"Been there? I'm _from _there."

"Really?"

"Does my accent say otherwise?"

"No, but your clothes do." The girl said, pointing out Sarah's dirty clothes.

"Oh, yeah, um, bad day, don't ask."

Then Sarah realized something.

"What about you? You sound American yourself." She asked, noting the girl's own American accent.

"Oh, yeah, um… I was raised in America, then we moved here, where my parents are from."

"I see." Then Sarah looked around to make her next question seem reasonable. She then removed her sunglasses and looked back to the girl.

"I'm not seeing someone who looks like they could be your mom, or brother, or sister." She said.

"Yeah, um, my mom doesn't like going out. And I don't have any siblings."

"Hm, speaking of siblings, you do remind me of my younger sister. Even your eyes."

"Wow, even the eyes?" Heterochromia wasn't very common.

"Well, from a certain point of view."

"That's interesting."

"What's your name again?"

"I didn't say, but it's Serina."

"Well, then, its nice meeting you Serina." She said, the name feeling alien to her, not because it wasn't a common name but because of something else. She tried not to think about it.

"My name's Sarah." She continued. Serina just nodded.

It was just some quiet conversation until Serina and her father had to get off.

"Well, it was nice to talking to you."

"You too." Sarah said to Serina as the latter got off the train with her father. Sarah watched them as the train doors closed.

"_Ahhhh, #$%&. Well, what did I expect?"_ She thought.

**Present**

James Antolini and Serina, along with Jean Croce and Rico, sat in the debriefing room. The man addressing them spoke.

"Hello there. We have called you together for a little mission. Its about the very secrecy of this organization." The man said.

"Yeah?" Antolini asked.

"Yes. A reporter has caught on to us. He's gathered notable evidence to spark much more suspicion among the civilian populace than there already is. If allowed to go any further, he could potentially destroy the Social Welfare Agency."

"Well, just buy him out or force him to sign a contract or something!" Antolini said, annoyed.

"We can't risk that. We're talking about Jack Vesputchi, one of the best Freelance reporters we know of. Easily as good as the last guy. A lot of Feds and other people really don't like him. He's too god at what he does."

"Hm, nice creative use of words." Jean said.

"So anyway, we can't assume it will be that simple. We have to resort to a takedown."

"So we just go and kick his ass?" Antolini asked.

"Yes."

"So why the hell we here? Section 1 alone can handle this." Jean asked.

"Ehehehehe…about that…"

* * *

So there you have it, Chapter 4 is finally up. Don't worry, the questions raised in here will be answered soon. But you are free to try and figure it out.

Actually, I have content surplus, meaning I have more than this already written out, but you have to wait a random amount of time to see the next chapters. That's just in case if school slows down my progress, I'll still have something to upload. That said, updates will probably be more regular now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"We have already tried that." Said the debriefer.

**A few hours ago**

Jack Vespucci was panting. Not just from fatigue but also from fear. He was cornered in an alleyway. There were no civilians within the vicinity to help him out in some way, or even notice what was going on. He uselessly backed up against the wall at the end of the alley, while a couple of men rounded the corner into the alley. They were just casually walking, knowing full well Vespucci wasn't going anywhere.

"What do you want from me?" He asked.

"You are coming with us."

Jack paused.

"I don't even have to ask why, do I?"

All of the men acted confused about Jack's question, just to mess with him. The leader then decided to contact number five, in a getaway vehicle nearby.

"Five, we've got the bastard. We are pulling out."

**Present**

"What? And you failed?" Jean asked, not believing that Section 1 failed to catch a lone reporter.

"Yes. We recently sent out a few Section 1 agents to capture Vesputchi. Next news we get about them, we find out they all got more or less beat up."

"What? How?"

"The agents say Vespucci seems to have an accomplice. They were giving chase to him, while he tried to defend himself with a concealed revolver. Two of them chased him normally, while the other two tried to flank and surprise him. However, the two flankers were ambushed by someone and were knocked out and disarmed. Then, one of the other two was tasered by apparently the same person as they tried to capture Vespucci, along with the getaway driver. The last agent surrendered, then got tasered.

"Holy shit…"

"Soooo…what are we going to do?"

"The escape vehicle was stolen. We have tracked it, but it already stopped. He could be going anywhere now. So we have to move fast. We've already sent some agents after him. You are going to be following as well and help take Vespucci down. We must not take any chances."

"Hey, what did the accomplice look like?"

"They couldn't say. He had a bandana-mask on, and shades. All they could say was that they thought he had a longer hairstyle, dark hair, and seemed to be white."

James thought over all the information. He suddenly felt a nagging disquiet in the back of his head. He quickly thought of what it was. As everyone was given their directions, dismissed, and started filing out, James stayed behind for a minute.

"Um, excuse me, but, I can't help but think –" He hesitated for a moment. In that moment, the debriefer finished James' sentence in his head, and responded.

"Antolini, I know what you are thinking. And I am telling you, it simply CANNOT be her. She is DEAD. Dead, dead, dead. We resolved this over 2 fucking years ago."

James remembered that.

~~O~~

**Report: S2A case, (Redacted date)**

**Subject: Cyborg test subject Two Alpha **

**Alias: "Sandra L. Antolini."**

**Subject 2A was believed to have been killed by the helicopter's missile attack. However, searches turned up no body. While we believed it to be possible the body was carried away by current, a good number of us though that the possibility of her survival was at best considerable.**

**And so, a search for Subject 2A was conducted. It turned out to be not very easy, as the subject receiving facial deformities, making her less recognizable, were possible, and disguises were more than plausible. Evidence, however, for a while indicated that she may have actually been dead. However, as it turns out now, we have actually found something, and it would prove the subject survived. It would also prove the Subject is no longer of any concern to us. At a cliff overlooking the sea, someone found some…things. From them, we have determined what most likely happened.**

~~O~~

**2+ Years Ago**

It was fairly windy, and cloudy. It seemed like it was going to rain. But Subject 2A no longer cared. She stood at a cliff overlooking the sea, at high tide, staring out at the horizon.

2A pulled out a SIG P239 she had stolen. It only had one clip, not full, but she only needed one bullet. After staring at it for a while, she slowly cocked it, making sure she was standing at the edge of the cliff. She looked at the gun for another moment contemplatively. She made her decision. Slowly, she raised the gun.

And fired.

~~O~~

James Antolini put down the report, and decided that sleep was the best thing to do for now.

**Present**

James nodded at the debriefer. No, there was no way it could be her. She was dead. He turned and left the room.

Author's note: Haha, this is quite embarassing. After months of haitus and rewriting and replanning, I managed to get up this really short chapter. And it was still slightly rushed. Don't worry though. The time in haitus did not go to waste, and I have a couple of other projects on the way now. Updates _should _be more frequent now, too.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Day After**

Four Fratello pairs in total had been sent after Vespucci. Two were First-gens; Jean/Rico and James/Serina, and the other two were second-gens. They were following Jack's trail. It seemed it would be surprisingly easy, since The Director had ordered considerable Section 1 assistance for Lorenzo's cyborgs and agents. With the 2 G2 Cyborgs and regular agents doing the investigative work, with the G1s following closely, it should be a rather short time before Jack Vespucci was caught and detained. Jean sat his sedan waiting for a call so that he could start his mission, whatever it would be. He actually started to fall asleep from boredom, when his cell phone finally rang. Jean picked up the phone.

"Have you found something?" Jean asked the agent.

"Section 1 Agents have stated that Vespucci is staying at a hotel in the outer city. They are not sure which room he is in, but they have come up with an idea."

"Yeah?"

"Vespucci has acquired a few grudges against him due his freelance journalism career, so we're going to exploit that. Our agents will go in, and one will pass a note to the reception desk person, demanding the room Vespucci is in and claiming that he has a "gang", referring to the other agents, with him. You will already be waiting upstairs, and when the agents arrive you will go to the room, while two Section Ones stay behind to make sure that nobody calls the cops. James and the Gen-2s will wait outside the building to nab Vespucci if he somehow gets out.

"So, we basically play some assholes who have a grudge against Vespucci."

"Yep. Both of the chiefs and the Director have already approved. They aren't taking any chances."

"Fine then. It's definitely worth it."

Jean hung up and started the car.

**15 minutes later**

After Jean and Rico had separately gone upstairs in the hotel they were directed to, several SWA agents entered, all wearing wigs and shades to hide their identities, just in case. One of them passed a note to the woman at the desk. She read it, paused, got them a key card and directed them to a room on the second floor. Six agents went upstairs while two stayed downstairs. They met up with Jean and Rico.

"Alright, let's get him." One agent said. They reached the door of the room. Four men positioned to the sides of the door, the rest stood in front. An agent swiped the key card and the door unlocked. They carefully opened the door and moved inside with their suppressed pistols raised.

No one else seemed to be in the room. No one was sleeping in either bed, no one at the table, and the bathroom on their right was open and seemed unoccupied. Confused, they all filed in slowly and carefully, guns raised, and started to search the room for Vespucci, believing he must be hiding. They found no one.

"Damn, he must have known we were coming somehow."

"You two, stay here and look for anything useful. The rest of you come with me and search the building for Vespucci." Jean said to the agents. They promptly did as told and filed out of the room, following Jean and Rico. The two that stayed behind started looking around the room.

"He was definitely here for a while." One man said as he checked out the more obviously used parts of the room.

"Hey, grab that phone there. We'll need people to take a look at it." An agent said, pointing at the phone on the desk.

"I got a better idea." The agent took his walkie-talkie and called one of the men in the lobby.

"Hey, Ben, can you find out when the last call from room 58 was?"

_"Uh, I'll try. I don't know if they keep track."_

"They do, now go find out."

_"Roger."_

Ben put his walkie-talkie back in its and holder and turned to the lobby desk.

"Hey, lady, tell me the last time a phone call was sent out from room 58."

"Okay, uh, just, please give me a moment." The lady searched through the hotel records of phone calls from on the computer. After a few moments, she turned back to the agent.

"It was about, uh, two weeks ago, sir."

The agent nodded, and grabbed his walkie-talkie and informed the agent who called him.

_"Okay, so its no problem. Alright, go back to watching the reception desk for cop-callers." _The agent in 58 said. He put the walkie-talkie down and sighed, partly in relief and partly in disappointment. As far as they knew, Vespucci wasn't talking to anyone yet. But they also hadn't found any leads yet.

"Call in some forensics people. Maybe they can look for fingerprints and stuff."

"Why?"

"Well, we were told Vespucci has an accomplice, right?

"Yeah, good point. But I don't think they're so stupid that they'll leave fingerprints."

"Eh…people can get careless. Besides, it doesn't have to be limited to fingerprints, in case you forgot. It can't hurt."

Eventually, the rest of the group contacted them on the walkie-talkies.

"Hey, did you nab him?" One of the agents asked.

"No. He's gotten away, we think."

"Damn."

"We really should just have gone with the "buy out" option. Or at least struck some sort of deal."

"Maybe, but we want to play it as safe as possible, so we'll sitll have to, ah, be sure the threat is neutralized. Unfortunately, we don't think he'll fall for it."

"What are we going to do about the potential issue of him contacting other people?"

"We'll ask him after we catch him. Besides, as we've already told you, the Director's talked around and had Vespucci's phone service cut off, and we've arranged more ways to keep him cut off from any of his contacts, and we've got people watching any news stations as well, small or large."

"And if we don't catch him?"

"We're working on that."

"Why do you sound so unworried?"

"Panicking isn't going to help us. Get back downstairs, back to your vehicles, and await further orders."

"Yes sir." They both hung up. They swiftly left and proceeded outside.

**~~O~~**

"What did the men look like, miss?" Police Officer Adriano Lorenzi asked the lady at the hotel's reception desk who had called the police after everyone was more or less sure the men threatening them had left the building.

"We only knew for sure about two of them. Both were white. One was about, six feet maybe, Red hair. But he was wearing shades, so I couldn't see his eyes. The other was about he same height and uh, had brown hair. But, actually, they were both wearing shades. I think I saw at least six people in total wearing shades, actually."

"Why were these men here?"

"They weren't interested in anything we expected. They wanted someone named Jack Vespucci, in room 58."

"You two, go check out room 58." The officer in charge said to two others.

"Do you happen to know who Jack Vespucci is?" Adriano continued.

"Apparently, he's a Freelance Reporter. I think those men may have had a grudge on him."

"Oh, I've heard of him at least once before. Nice guy, he seems." An officer to the side commented.

"Is there anything else you know or might be thinking?" Adriano asked. The woman paused, and shook her head. Adriano nodded.

"Then that will be all, miss, at least for now. Thank you. We'll investigate this." He turned and brought the lieutenant in charge to the side to speak with him.

"Damn. What you make of this, Lieutenant?"

"Some nuts trying exact revenge against this reporter, of course. I consider that already serious enough, but considering the determination of these guys, it could get even uglier, so we'll follow this case closely and be at the ready. It's our job to protect people, and we will protect this Mr. Vespucci."


End file.
